Give it some room. I limb mine up like trees.

Nell

Here is a link that might be useful: Shoal Creek at Goodness Grows

I love vitex. In the mid 80's I planted a cutting from the vitex of my 1st. MIL's house. yesterday I was at the house where I planted that cutting. The trunk is now as large around as a 2 gallon pot.
The one I planted here I cut to the ground each spring. I prefer it to be a shrub rather than a tree.

This morning. I can see I need to got clip the seeds off.

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Uh....What have I done? I didn't think it would get THAT large. Sheesh. I need a bed all for itself I think.

I want to keep it more shrub like too. I know they'll grow into a tree given enough time and no pruning, but that one Nell linked to is HUGE.

How fast does this thing grow?

I think they grow a foot or more a year. You can cut them to the ground every spring and they'll zoom right back up to the size they were the year before and grow some more. I guessing that this is the third year for Kathy's.

One of the hardest things for me is estimating ultimate size. That's why I have so many small trees -- they used to be shrubs.

Nell

Yes, this is it's third spring.

When I was small we had about 8 vitex around the front porch. I remember sitting out there watching the hummers.

I have one that is from the original plant from Mom. It was inadvertently planted in the shade, before we knew where the shade would be. It grows much slower.

I have a blue potato bush out front that I planted according to the size the tag said it would get. It has surpassed that, so I have to keep hacking it back.

The only bad thing about keeping them as shrubs is the way they look after that hard pruning. I planted my first one close to the house and had no choice but to prune it. It reminded me of "crape murder" when I got done. I eventually took a cutting from that one and planted its offspring where it could do its own thing. They do grow fast. That's part of their beauty.

Vitex is one of my favorites.

token28001...I agree that you might want to give it some elbow room. :) NCSU says 12-15 feet tall and 10-15 wide. It's a fabulous plant!

I remember the first time I saw them around Austin and I, too, thought they were giant butterfly bushes. They were, indeed, small trees and breathtaking.

Token, to give you an idea on growth rate, this one is about 6 feet tall and is in it's 3rd year.

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I've got it underplanted right now with butterfly bushes, but they're just seedlings this year. I'll give it a year to settle in before I start worrying. I've also got loropetalum in that bed and a few grasses. The other end will have roses, most likely red.

It's going to zoom past those butterfly bushes, lol.

The Vitex I grew from a cutting was planted in 2004. In this pic from May of this year it's easily 10-12 feet tall.

It's in bloom behind the owl.

I went out and measured mine. They are all at least ten years old, 4 cuttings that Nurse Gwen gave me off her newly purchased Vitex. The one pictured I moved about 2 years ago to the sunnier front yard. It is 9' tall and 8 ' wide. It already bloomed and is putting on secondary blossoms.

The 3 in the Upper Garden are in more shade. Two are coming into bloom. They were cut to about 9 inches from the ground 2 years ago. They have multiple trunks and are 8' tall. They have to be pruned from over the paths. They are starting to bloom now.

The one in most shade is 10' tall and growing straight up. Never cut back, it has two primary trunks and a little sucker piece that grew out of the ground. It shows promise of blooming soon.

Nell

Wow. Do you take softwood or hardwood cuttings? I'd like to add some more of these to the gully, for the birds, of course. :)

Here's my baby. It's easily 3' tall. You can see the tiny butterfly bush I planted last week. I wintersowed it, collected from Black Knight.

Greenwood to semi-ripe cuttings. Firmer than softwood, not fully hard. Summertime.

The one in the back yard started as a stick I stuck in the ground to stake something else. They root very easily.

They also grow quickly from seed, which is how I got mine. I have three in a large container - just trying to figure out where to plant them.
I had one in my back yard in Louisiana. It was a small but bushy tree. I loved it.

Natal, Your garden is incredible!!! Your tomatoes look like trees!!! Wow! I love the arch and fence around it and it is so neat and tidy...just gorgeous! When you can grow tomatoes that big, no wonder your Vitex grew so big so fast! Amazing garden. Post more pictures!!!

This topic makes me want to go outside right now and plant mine! We're about to get some rain (yippee!!!), so now is a good time to transplant them into the ground.

Tom, I would move it now if I were you, before the trunk gets big and woody and the roots grow down deep. As much of it as you can see above ground, the roots will be twice that under the soil once it gets established.

I love their flowers, but I even love the aromatic fragrance of the leaves too. Kind of reminds me of "Vicks" or Mentholatum or something like that - only very pungent, and the seeds smell of black pepper. It is on the recommendation list of trees to plant for creating Natural Habitats for wildlife here in Oklahoma. Tough and beautiful - what a great combination!

Everyone, your Chaste tree photos are fantastic. Beautiful!

Good luck with yours Tomas!

~Annie

Annie, they are like trees, lol, at least the Sun Golds are. That photo was taken shortly before the "draping" began. ThereÂs only so much tying you can do without a ladder, so have to let nature take its course. Now itÂs not so tidy, but at least a few tomatoes are still producing. About this time of year I get itchy to start pulling plants. Killed half a dozen stink bugs this morning while I was harvesting, so the end is drawing near. I was very fortunate to have such a good harvest the past couple months. Thanks for the compliments! The former garden served me well for more than 20 years, but it was time for something new and I wanted pretty along with practical.

It's 8' from anything that I won't be able to move later. I think it'll give me the right amount of summer privacy in the backyard. Only the loropetalum and Cherry Laurels will be as large/r. I think I'll prune it in half each spring.

A friend and I just each bought a Vitex. The ones we've been seeing in TX south of Austin appear as small multi-trunked 10-12 foot trees which is the look I'm after. The ones we bought are in 2-3 gallon pots and already appear like they will be multi like that. Will these need to be cut back to maintain the look? or will it increase it? I only need about 3 or 4 trunks. Is there anything negative about them we should know like dropping something that needs cleanup or we wouldn't want a car under in the driveway?

I planted 3 vitex trees about 10 years ago. They all grew beautifully for 8 years. Now one is dead. I have had to cut off so many big limbs from the other two that I feel they will be dead by next spring. Is this normal? What is the average life span of these trees?

Mary Lynne, telling us where you are and the growing conditions it is in is helpful since that may influence a plant's health. A photo is useful also since it may contain some clues to the problem. Depending on where you are, they may have had severe die-back from the extreme cold spells of the last couple of winters (not the most recent ones.) Or it may be due to some other cause.

If you don't get an answer here (this forum can be slow), you can try the shrub forum or the tree forum, but you'll want to give as much information as possible. How did the limbs die - over the winter, or during the growing season? Have the growing conditions changed due to increased shade, an extended drought, or something else that might have influenced the health of the trees?

how far away from the side of a house would you plant vitex?

I'm in Portland, OR.

Also, I'm thinking about either a south facing or west facing location. Both are full sun. Would it prefer more or (slightly) less sun?

How far from a baby lilac would you plant it? The lilac is about 18 inches high, with two branches. It's brand new, but I know it will get big in the coming years.

perhaps Vitex and lilac would be competing from a design perspective, and not look nice together?

Here in zone 7, lilacs bloom much earlier than my Vitex. The lilacs are already done. The Vitex are the latest of my trees to leaf out and they bloom in summer.

How far from a fence should you plant a vitex?